As snowmobiles are often transported by a trailer towed by a road vehicle, unprotected snowmobiles can be exposed to deleterious elements such as ice and corrosive matter, such as salt and sand, which can spray up with slush from road vehicles. Further, whether stored inside or outside, snowmobiles are preferably covered when not in use in order to keep their surfaces clean and to protect them from moisture, dust, dirt or other such elements which can soil, cause corrosion, or otherwise prematurely wear the snowmobile. Accordingly, many different types of covers for snowmobiles are known, all of which generally provide protection for the snowmobile during transportation or storage thereof.
Soft, lightweight covers are often used as they can easily be folded up and stored away when not in use. Such conventional covers generally comprise a large upper portion made of a nylon or similarly weatherproof material which is sized and fitted to slide overtop of the entire upper body portion of the snowmobile, generally covering the forward fairings of the external shell and the rear seat portion. Typically, the skis and track are left uncovered by this type of cover.
Such conventional soft snowmobile covers are generally secured to the snowmobile by lateral straps which extend from one side of the opening in the upper weatherproof covering portion, and are adapted to transversely extend beneath the snowmobile for fastening engagement with the cover on the opposite side of the snowmobile. However, in order to accomplish this, the person installing the cover generally has to kneel down and extend their arm, holding the strap, under the snowmobile and through the rear suspension system, in order to thread the strap through to the other side of the snowmobile where, once the person has gone around to the other side of the snowmobile, it can be fastened to the opposite edge of the cover. This procedure has to be repeated for each strap which is to be passed under the snowmobile. As most such covers comprise three or four straps to ensure that the cover is adequately secured to the vehicle, this process can be time consuming.
When the snowmobile has been stored outside or has recently been used, the rear suspension is normally icy and full of snow, which can further make it difficult to pass ones arm beneath the snowmobile in order to feed the strap across to the other side of the vehicle.
Further, removal of this type of cover can also present inconveniences. Particularly, fastening straps which extend through the track and rear suspension system can be difficult to disengage and remove, as the attachment clips disposed on their ends tend to hook onto, or otherwise become entangled with, elements of the rear suspension system. This therefore makes removal of the fastening straps from beneath the rear portion of the snowmobile inconvenient, as extra care must be taken in order to ensure that their removal from beneath the snowmobile occurs without hindrance.
Other soft snowmobile covers are also known to employ a strap which extends around the perimeter of the cover, having ends which meet at a point, such as the rear of the snowmobile, for fastening together. The strap can then be drawn taught to hold the perimeter of the cover as close to the snowmobile as possible, thereby preventing wind or snow from entering the cover or blowing the cover off the snowmobile. However, regardless of how tight the full perimeter strap on this type of cover is pulled, it does not provide as secure an attachment to the snowmobile in comparison with a cover which has lateral straps which transversely extend beneath the snowmobile.
Thus, there remains a need for a soft, lightweight snowmobile cover which can be more easily and quickly installed on a snowmobile, while nevertheless being securely fastenable thereto.